Posts Tagged ‘Science activities’

1. Choose other flowers for colour and nectar. Adult butterflies are most attracted to red, yellow, orange, and pink flowers. Adding some of these for colour is a great way to spruce up your butterfly garden.

2. Purchase and plant a few nectar plants. These plants should be placed in your garden so they can receive direct and full sunlight. Adult butterflies only feed in the sun. Locating a sunny area for your butterfly garden is an absolute must!

3. Create a planting schedule. Butterflies need a food source throughout their entire lifecycle, so be sure to plant flowers so that as one stops blooming a new one is starting to bloom.

4. Create resting and puddle areas. Butterflies like to rest in the sun to warm their wings. Have areas with flat stones in sunny spots for butterflies to land on. Butterflies also like we, sandy areas where they can drink from the water puddles. You can create this area by using a shallow pan filled with sand and water. Be sure to keep the sand moist at all times.

Want to learn more about building a butterfly garden and the butterfly lifecycle? Check out these useful online resources:

The Caterpillar eventually Transitions into the Adult Butterfly! If your Class wishes to Make a Fun Mini-Butterfly House, Materials required are: Caterpillars (can be purchased in a Pet Store or online); Milkweed (or similar plant type); Small Twigs, Leaves, and other plant matter; Terrarium with Lid

There are 4 stages for the Butterfly’s life cycle. They are: The Egg, The Larva, The Pupa, and The Adult. The Egg – is the unborn stage. In this stage the eggs are laid by the Female Butterfly. She will generally lay her eggs on plants. The plants will be the food source for the growing Butterfly when it hatches from the egg as the caterpillar. The Female Butterfly lays eggs in the every season, except for the winter. The exact egg-laying time depends on the species of Butterfly. During each laying, hundreds of eggs are released. Butterfly Eggs are very, very small. There is a high chance that most eggs laid will not become Butterflies, so the female lays as many eggs as she can in the hopes that at least some will grow, hatch, and survive. (Photo: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harlequin_Butterfly_Life_Cycle_Mariposa_arlequ%C3%ADn_%285840511508%29.jpg)

The Larva – After the egg has been laid, the next stage is the larva stage. The “Baby” emerges from the egg and is called a Caterpillar. The main job of the Caterpillar is to eat as much as it possibly can. The Caterpillar will eat and eat and grow and grow during this stage. The Caterpillar will grow so much that it will have to split and shed its skin at least 4 times. As the caterpillar eats the food is stored for it to use in later stages.

The Pupa – The Caterpillar will enter this stage after it is full grown and has eaten all it can eat. For Butterflies the pupa is called a Chrysalis. The Chrysalis may attach under a branch, bury itself underground, or hide in leaves. Different species of Butterflies spend this stage in different ways. During this stage, the Cocoon is formed to protect the growing Pupa. This stage could last up to a month! Some species are known to be in this stage for two years!

This is when the Metamorphosis or the big change occurs. Parts of the pupa will grow very quickly to make the wings, legs, and eyes of the Adult Butterfly. The stored food from the larva stage will be what the pupa lives off of as it grows inside of the Cocoon.

Did you know a Caterpillar can grow over 100 times bigger than it was when it First hatched? Most caterpillars are the size of a pen tip when they first hatch but can grow to be 2 inches long within the matter of 2 weeks!

The Female Karner Blue, a little different from Her blue male counterpart – is not actually blue! She is a little blue, and mostly Beautiful silver-grey with white borders on Her wings, and orange and deep dark charcoal-colored spots!…..Although Karners nourish themselves on only the blue lupine flower in their pre-pubescent stages, once, they come out of their pupas and fly, they nourish themselves on all other flowers in the surrounding areas, though as far as we know to this point, still stay in the general geographical area. If you wish to see Karners in bloom, there are many places around the Great Lakes of the U.S. where parks are designated for the Karner preservation. Within Canada, efforts are underway for their welcome return…..Late May to early June is the peak bloom time of the Karner Blue. For more info, feel free to visit: http://www.wiltonpreserve.org/conservation/karner-blue-butterfly.

Welcome to Blue Butterfly Books! Our Books are available as pdf downloads or softcover books – in full color or black/white.

We are based in Victoria BC, Canada

Sustainability and Eco-Responsibility Here at Blue Butterfly Books, trees are valuable to Mother Earth and the health and wellbeing of everyone. Minimizing our ecological footprint and effect on the environment, we choose Create Space, an eco-responsible printing company.

Electronic routing of our books reduces greenhouse gas emissions, worldwide. When a book order is received, the order is filled at the printing location closest to the client. Using environmentally friendly publishing technology, of the Espresso book printing machine, Blue Butterfly Books are printed as they are requested, saving thousands of books, and trees over time. This process offers the stable and viable alternative keeping healthy sustainability of our environment. All paper is acid-free, and interior paper stock is made from 30% post-consumer waste recycled material. Safe for children, Create Space also verifies the materials used in the print process are all CPSIA-compliant.

By purchasing this Blue Butterfly Book, you have supported Full Recovery and Preservation of The Karner Blue Butterfly. Our logo is the Karner Blue, Lycaeides melissa samuelis, a rare and beautiful species whose only flower for propogation is the blue lupin. The Karner Butterfly is mostly found in the Great Lakes Region of the U.S.A. Recovery planning is in action, for the return of Karner Blue in Canada led by the National Recovery Strategy. The recovery goals and objectives are aimed at recreating suitable habitats for the butterfly and encourage the growth of blue lupines – the butterfly’s natural ideal habitat.